I have to agree with Largo, I don't much like Erika's minions. They don't know, like, or even give a flip about the real Erika. Erika learned before how hollow that can be. I suppose ExL was going a bit too well lately, and this is an issue they need to work through together. Hopefully they can do it without hurting each other too badly this time.

Ririka looks like she's really hurting here. Of course with that black eye, arm in a sling, and such, it's not surprising. The adrenaline is wearing off, now that the danger seems to have passed.

The big thing in this comic is the connection between real magical girls and tv ones. It's been hinted at before, with Ririka talking about Lavandula and the Lovlies [1418]. But here we get stated almost straight out that Nurse Angel Ririka SOS was based on our Ririka.

"thin, flat pretty little blond girl"

The parallel with Miho is pretty obvious. The real story can serve as a starting point, but it gets altered to make it "better". And much like with Miho, the point is both to entertain and to control the fanboy hordes. I'm going to guess that's what Rirka meant about Erika helping people and saving the world, though I'm not entirely sure of that. I wonder if magical girls get their sparkly power from the fanboys love, much like Miho seems to.

It all feels wrong though. Fanboys preferring the illusiion over reality so strongly that they put down the real magical girls, idols, and character analogues because they don't "live up to" the illusion. Their real efforts to save people going unappreciated because it wasn't sparkly enough. Stability clearly sees this as necessary, to keep the fanboy hordes quiescent. But I don't think the means justify the ends.

What we have established here are that there are in fact triads. Miho/Moeka/Erika was one such and I am suspicious that the focus on the portion of Miho's story that was her sickness and eventual death served to cripple Moeka's ability to do much of anything. That threw more and more of the burden of that story on to Erika so perhaps it's no wonder that she broke and walked away

I can only imagine what it must have done to the TPCD and the forces of Order when Miho attempted to take control of the power vacuum that Erika's leaving caused.

Ririka needs a hug and some TLC, get patched up, have a spa day. Maybe take some time and hang out with the other older MG's and laugh and talk about all the things they'd have to talk about. She's really hurting and she's been hurting for a very long time and now she's in a situation where she could really help a lot of people if she'd not sacrificed her powers and that's metaphorically hitting her squarely in the face.

Erika and Largo.....

Largo is an ass....seriously... Erika flippantly asks if he's jealous and instead of an acceptable answer like, "well....maybe a little bit..." he says what he says and tears away the illusion that Erika had carefully woven around her relationship with him. She calls him a fool and that's accurate enough but seriously the manchild is an ass and doesn't deserve to breath the same air that she does

What we have established here are that there are in fact triads. Miho/Moeka/Erika was one such and I am suspicious that the focus on the portion of Miho's story that was her sickness and eventual death served to cripple Moeka's ability to do much of anything. That threw more and more of the burden of that story on to Erika so perhaps it's no wonder that she broke and walked away

I'm not sure about the Miho connection here. I can't remember anything about TV Moeko that implied she was a tragic sick little girl. If the real Moeko wasn't well, then the adapters made a deliberate decision to not use the "Miho story" archetype. Miho's story isn't the only one out there that be an opiate for the masses.

I have to agree with Largo, I don't much like Erika's minions. They don't know, like, or even give a flip about the real Erika. Erika learned before how hollow that can be. I suppose ExL was going a bit too well lately, and this is an issue they need to work through together. Hopefully they can do it without hurting each other too badly this time.

Honestly, I don't think there's really anything to work out. He's not being stupid-jealous and they're being honest with each other. Erika's blush was nice though.

Erika"helping people and saving the world" is a little strong; keeping it stable, perhaps, until she bailed.

Seems to me if the world is kept stable, it’s a tad safer, though. ; )

I thought Ririka was rather honestly being herself when she called Erika ‘a sweetie’ in the last panel.
That seems to disconnect Erika from the ‘big butt bossy bruiser’ — in my eyes, Ririka referred to herself with that chunky description.
I’m having some trouble imagining Ririka encouraging Yuki by describing anyone other than herself in that possibly embarrassing manner — especially in the light of the contrast with the television character that was ‘based’ on her — and the fact that she doesn’t seem any bit hostile toward Erika.
If anything, she seems to have a go at attempting to encourage both Yuki and Erika at the same time, while being in pain herself.

The part of this comic I'm having the most problem with is the last panel. What did Erika do to "help people and save the world"? Sure, she was a popular idol and all, which is nice. And I suppose from a Stability point of view, she did her part in keeping the masses from going on a rampage out of sheer boredom. But it feels like Ririka has something more than that in mind. Maybe it had something to do with Erika's history with Meimi?

Ririka is or was a healer. I don't see how the compound hell anyone would imagine her as ever referring to herself as any sort of 'bruiser' but keep on fantasizing

I have vastly more trouble imagining Ririka as someone who would gratuitously insult Erika right in her presence, and with such a nasty low-brow insult as "chunky big butt". (I haven't gotten around to actually watching the Nurse Angel Ririka SOS everyone's been bringing up lately, but if there was a trailer park involved, wiki at least doesn't mention it.)

Now if Ririka were gratuitously nasty to Erika in the last two panels, I'd say ok, there is obviously some bad blood between the two, something new I am ignorant of, Fred is bringing in yet another fresh twist; I am usually pretty patient and would be happy to wait another hundred strips or so to find out what that's about.

But she's not, she's just as sweet-innocent-cute to Erika as Fred has always portrayed her, someone who will only resort to calling folks "doo doo brains" when they are actively hurling ordinance at her. Under your theory that cuteness is totally (and suddenly and unexpectedly) fake, and the nastiness of her "big butt" comment takes on the far nastier aspect of being two-faced. Again, I'll admit to ignorance of the original Ririka Fred is inspired by / drawing reference from / riffing off of; but whatever the nature of the "source" material, for this Ririka to suddenly become an anklebiting backstabbing bitch given what we've seen of her in the comic so far would be a complete and utter change of character.

(That's before we even get to objective issues, such as that Ririka describing this as a "chunky big butt" would be indicative of major head issues on Ririka's part not at all foreshadowed or hinted at in-comic. )

I kind of doubt that description ever applied to Erika. (Well, maybe the "bossy bruiser" part.)

Heck, I'd even question the "bossy" part. Erika's "bruising" has invariably been a direct response to an attempt, or perceived attempt, by someone else to tell Erika what to do. I'm not aware of any situation where Erika came out and told someone else what to do, let alone tried "bossing" them into doing it. (Even when asking Piro to do some of the work he was hired to do, she's much more teasing than bossy.)

Last edited by darrin on Mon Nov 20, 2017 3:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.